Story & photo by Alex Pastor
THE lights fade. The music starts. And the journey begins. This is how musical theater transports its audiences to a world where every nuance, every emotion and every feeling can be instantaneously seen and felt. It is a magical world filled with laughter, love and hope. Sometimes, it also dwells on sadness, misery, heartbreak and even discrimination, where people get unfairly judged by their shape, looks, color, gender, even beliefs. Luckily though, most musicals end on a good note. The fact is, theater remains to be a very good escape from the monotonous humdrum of everyday life.
In the recent staging of Once Upon a Mattress, locally produced by the Ephesus Teatron Group Inc., the whole production showcased all these emotions and highlighted just how talented Filipino theater actors and actresses are. Everyone in the cast was simply superb, which made the musical even more entertaining to watch. The cast, led by theater veteran Carla Guevara-Laforteza, who played Princes Winnifred the Woebegone, was a joy to watch. From start to finish, her constant high energy and stage presence was very apparent, contagious, truly keeping everyone on the edge of their seats.
Besides Guevara-Laforteza’s acting props, the musicality and vocal prowess of the whole cast, likewise, reverberated in the whole Emilio Aguinaldo Theater, Tanghalang Yaman Lahi in Emilio Aguinaldo College. Joining Carla in the cast were no less fantastic Nino Alejandro as Prince Dauntless, Emeline Celis-Guinid as Queen Agravain, Raymund Concepcion as King Sextimus, Yanah Laurel as Lady Larken, Steven Hotchkiss as Jester, Onyl Torres as the Wizard, Hans Eckstein as Sir Harry, Sweet Samaniego Buchanan as Princess No. 12, along with the rest of the company too many to list down individually here.
The set design was done by Kayla Teodoro, choreography by Stephen Vinas, music by Pipo Cifra and direction by Steven Conde.
The story of Once Upon a Mattress is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea, where the Princess is unable to sleep on a bed of many mattresses when a tiny pea is placed underneath the most bottom mattress.
What makes this adaptation quite different, though, is how the whole kingdom is continuously searching for a princess to wed Prince Dauntless.
The opening scene starts off with the latest potential princess being tested of her nobility where, upon passing the test, she will be able to wed the prince. Unfortunately, the devious Queen Aggravain, the prince’s mother, makes sure that every princess who takes the test will undoubtedly fail, making the whole kingdom an unhappy one because the Queen has decreed that no one among the Ladies of the Court nor the Knights will be allowed to marry, until the prince has wed a true princess of royal blood.
King Sextimus, on the other hand, can’t do anything about this sorry state of affairs as he has been cursed by a witch, making him unable to talk until “the mouse devours the hawk!” Queen Aggravain has therefore assumed control over the whole kingdom. In the final scene, it’s revealed by the Jester that the true reason Princess Winnifred is not able to sleep is because he placed under the topmost mattress his lute, a helmet, a large spiked ball, some livestock and even some old armor. Of course, everything ends well and Prince Dauntless is finally allowed to marry Princess Winnifred, thus ending the marriage ban for all the Court Ladies and the Knights. The King, meanwhile, gets his voice back and punishes the Queen for her misdeeds.
Once Upon a Mattress is based on the book of Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller and Marshall Barber. The music was composed by Mary Rodgers and lyrics written for the stage by Marshall Barber.
The Ephesus Teatron Group Inc., founded by Sweet Samaniego-Buchanan (president) and her husband, Robert Gerry Buchanan (chairman), produces contemporary and traditional theatrical works. They also offer rigorous and comprehensive theater, voice and dance trainings to amateur and young professionals, and uses theater as a tool for educational engagement. They tour nationally, taking their unique style of innovative and engaging theater to schools, providing instruction and onstage experience for the youth. The company also brings arts education to small and large communities, and engages with intergenerational audiences through its wide-ranging touring productions and extensive workshop programs. With an aim to be one of the most significant theater companies in the country, they continue to bring intelligence, excellence and passion to the stage by bringing in both local and international productions. For a schedule of their upcoming shows, visit Ephesus Teatron Group web site (https://ephesusteatron.com/).
This production was staged from January 20 to 22 in cooperation with the Emilio Aguinaldo College. Here’s hoping they get overwhelming requests to rerun it again soon.
Image credits: Alex Pastor